His Heartbeat
by VerifiedBreeze
Summary: When Lucy's father decides to uproot their lives in the lively city of Magnolia to move to the beautiful remote town of Fiore, Lucy finds that maybe the country lifestyle has a lot more to offer her than she expected. Especially when she meets her eccentric pink haired neighbor sitting in a tree outside her window. But what is he hiding and what does his mysterious red tattoo mean?


**Yo what's up guys! VerifiedBreeze here with the start of my new story! This is my very first Fairy Tail Fic and I'm happy to be adding to this fandom! It's not my first story, but I intend for it to be my best! I'm going to tell you guys now this is a NALU fic and that will not change. It will be heavily focused around Nalu and although other characters are involved the focus will almost never be shifted to them. So pairings like Gruvia, GaLe, and Jerza while implied heavily might not be given much attention as their fans would like.**

 **This fic will be entirely in Lucy's POV which is kind of like a challenge to myself to write from a woman's POV when I'm a man lol. This is a NON MAGICAL AU story so if you are not into it I suggest you leave now before you end up disappointed.**

 **There will always be a set of Author's notes at the bottom of each chapter and i'd appreciate it if you guys read them as you never know what I might be saying whether it is answering questions left in reviews... etc.**

 **Things you should know are that this world is different from the Fairy Tail universe. Magnolia is the capital of Earthland and Fiore is the name of a town instead of a country.**

 **So with all that in mind welcome to**

* * *

 _His Heartbeat_

 **Chapter 1**

God why was this happening to me?

I always believed I was a relatively nice person. Sure there were times where my quick temper got the better of me, but still that was no reason for God to punish me like this.

I sighed, closing my eyes briefly before opening them once more allowing the dull sight of grass to enter my vision as I looked out of the window of the car. I couldn't recall seeing any type of structure for probably the last 40 miles not even a gas station, just open road. I could already imagine the place we were headed, any town that made you drive on a road like this to get there was sure to be the polar opposite of the city Magnolia where I was from.

I turned my head towards my father who was driving the car. We had been driving for hours and hadn't said a single word to each other. Not that I was surprised. My father and I rarely spoke, hell we rarely even found the time to be around each other back in Magnolia.

Wait let me correct that.

He rarely had time to be around me back in Magnolia. Yeah that was a better description.

"Are we almost there?" I asked, my voice coming out a bit ruder than I had intended. I couldn't bring myself to care though considering my father was number one on my current list of people I was pissed off at.

I saw him close his eyes in annoyance at my question and instantly I felt my temper bubbling in my stomach.

"Forget it." I said quickly, before he had a chance to reply.

He huffed out a breath. "Lucy...I told you before we left this was going to be a long drive." He stated as if I was wrong for being ready to get out of a car that I had been in since eight in the morning with only my thoughts to keep me company.

"And it has already been a long drive. I think I deserve to at least know how much longer we have." I responded trying to be as passive as possible. The last thing I wanted was to make this drive even worse by getting into one of my famous arguments with my father.

He didn't respond choosing to instead pull out his cell phone. I looked at him incredulously, was he seriously ignoring such a simple question? How hard could it be to just tell me how much longer before we reached were we were going to be living for the next year?

Well were **I** will be living for the next year.

I clenched my teeth trying to hold back a volley of insults that I could feel coming up my throat. There was absolutely no way in hell I was staying here longer than a year with him. Once I graduated high school I would move back to Magnolia and finally build my own life. From scratch without having to worry about my intolerable father.

You see my father was well known man back in Magnolia having made a fortune from his real estate business. Jude Heartfilia. Just his name held so much weight that honestly I felt more like a princess than a normal citizen back home. But of course there was much more to our family than that. We may have had wealth and power, but everything else seemed to have been forfeited.

Actually that is a lie. There was a time where we did seem to have more than material things, but that was a long time ago... Back before my mother...

I sighed. The thought of my mother instantly calming my anger down. She would hate to see how badly my relationship with my father had deteriorated since she passed away. I hated it myself honestly, but what could I do? My father just became a completely different person after her death and I don't believe he has any intentions of ever mending things between us.

My thoughts were snapped however as I saw us approaching a sign. I couldn't help, but feel excited despite the fact that I had no desire to move here.

 **Welcome to Fiore**

Fiore...I had never heard of it before my dad told me we were moving here. He told me that he was sick of the city and wanted to get as far away from it as possible. His reason was extremely vague and despite my protests of how selfish he was being they went completely ignored.

I felt my phone vibrate in my lap. I had completely forgotten I had been texting my boyfriend. Well it was his fault I had forgotten considering that he had probably only sent two messages per hour the entire trip.

I was a bit bothered, but Loke was pretty busy with all of his duties at school. We had agreed to try a long distance relationship since I told him I would move back in a year, however I was definitely going to have to let him know that his communication was going to have to be better than it had been when we had a chance to see each other daily.

I laughed a bit to myself already imaging the conversation. Loke would probably find some way to weasel his way into getting me to forgive him with his sweet words. He had a way with them, it was something I'd never admit directly to his face because I was sure his head would get even bigger. If that were possible.

Looking at my phone, I rolled my eyes at the message.

- _I hope your drive wasn't to lonely without me-_

Speaking of the devil, Only somebody who had met Loke could imagine the cocky smile he probably had on his face when he sent the message. But despite his cocky nature I liked him, he wasn't as bad of a guy that people thought he was despite his rather compromised reputation before we started dating. He was there when I needed him to be that was what mattered.

Something my father definitely couldn't lay claim to.

I decided not to reply at the moment though knowing that it would humble my golden haired boyfriend if I didn't reply the moment I read the message. A little humbling now and then never hurt anybody. I smiled again at my thoughts. Messing with Loke was a good way to allow my earlier anger to fade away.

Turning my head back towards the window I couldn't help, but let my eyes widen. While the bright green grass was still abundant it was no longer alone. There were two things that stood out to me the most, the abundance of farms that were littered around the area as we drove by them with residents of Fiore working tirelessly on them, and the large mountain peaks that climbed towards the clouds in the background of the small town. How had I not seen such huge mountains during the drive? I had no idea. I settled on the excuse that I was to busy sulking to take notice.

"Don't tell me we're going to start working on a farm too." I said amusement in my voice. I knew full well my father wouldn't know where to begin when it came to handling a farm.

Or a lot of the other responsibilities we now had to do on our own since when we moved out of Magnolia we also left our life of luxury involving many maids and servants. I wasn't worried about that though, I was plenty competent enough for the both of us if it came down to it.

My father's expression changed lightly the tension from our other conversation briefly slipping away. I guess he found my joke amusing. Although he didn't give me a verbal response. This time it was fine though, I hadn't expected one.

I continued assessing the town that I would be calling my new home as we now were driving past a long blue river. Even from the car I could see how unpolluted the water was, it seemed to sparkle as we drove past. I mentally promised myself to get a closer look once we had settled in.

It wasn't to much longer when we pulled up to what I presumed to be our new home. It was a bit surprising, back in Magnolia our house seemed more like a palace if anything, but just like the contrast between Magnolia and Fiore the houses were nothing alike.

As the car turned off I quickly opened the door so I could get a closer view, not really believing what I was seeing. It was a decent size, two stories built out of brick, but that wasn't what caught my attention. Rather it was the houses that stood to the left of ours and to the right. We had neighbors.

We never had neighbors in Magnolia instead being surrounded by open lawn that seemingly stretched for miles along with fountains and other decorative things that my father seemed to think we needed. When I was a child I use to hate not having neighbors since I was home schooled until I went to high school so I didn't get to make many friends growing up. This was a pleasant surprise.

"Why did you choose this place?" I asked my dad breathlessly as he finally stepped out of the car as well and joined me in taking in the scenery a sight that I would been surprised at if I weren't already surprised by our new home.

"Do you not like it?" He chose to ask instead of answering my question.

I figured that it was better not to respond with the obvious "I would still rather be in Magnolia with my friends."

Even if those 'friends' consisted only of my boyfriend and a few of our maids.

"It's...nice." I answered truthfully. I knew that my father couldn't have possibly known about my childhood dream about wanting to live in a place like this. I didn't blame him for not knowing either since it was something that I had only really shared with my mother.

My father seemed please by my answer. Although I saw a hint of sadness that lingered in his eyes as he looked at the house. I knew there was a lot he wasn't telling me. But I was willing to admit that I didn't press him on it out of fear of what he reaction would be.

"The movers told me they already arranged all of our belongings inside so your room should already be set up." He said as he began walking to the door and unlocking it.

I followed silently sucking in a breath as I saw the inside of the house. We had stepped right into the living room which while was much smaller than the one in our previous home, but I knew it would still be considered large by most standards. The hardwood floors seemed brand new and clashed well with the furniture my father had purchased. I didn't say anything though about my impression of the inside as I found myself feeling excited to see my new room.

It was almost funny how the entire ride here I had been dreading living in Fiore, but now I felt a little giddy. There was something about the simplicity of the town that attracted me. How unattached it seemed to be from modern civilization. It was new.

As a character in one of my stories would proudly claim, "It was an adventure."

I walked up the stairs and quickly figured out which room was mine and walked in. It was a normal sized bedroom, a lot smaller than my old one, which I expected at this point. My desk with all my writing material had already been set up neatly in the corner and my closet and dresser was already filled with my clothing and shoes. My bed was made up with bright pink sheets and I couldn't help, but smile as I allowed my body to fall face first on the soft mattress happy that I was finally able to lay down after such a long drive.

Then I noticed the single window that was next to my desk. I wondered what kind of view I had. Curiosity overpowering my laziness I stood up and headed towards the window. I could feel my face light up with a smile as I saw the view of our backyard. The same river that I had seen earlier was flowing as beautifully as it had been earlier, it was a nice contrast to the freshly cut grass. I could see both of my neighbor's backyards as well even though they were separated by a small wooden gate. It was the yard on the left though that caught my attention. Standing firm and strong was a large tree and I could vaguely see small make shift steps leading up to a large branch. I had no idea why somebody would build steps to a branch, but I figured that the owners must have a child who liked climbing the tree and had made them so they wouldn't get hurt.

The branch was long and easily crossed over the fence leading from their yard to ours. I had a feeling that I would see exactly who was climbing up that tree eventually. I laughed a bit to myself hoping that whatever child was climbing up that tree wouldn't cause me to much grief considering it was so close to my window. Overall though my backyard was beautiful.

Remembering my promise to myself I decided to go to the backyard myself so I could examine the flowing river more closely. I didn't see my father as I made my way to the backdoor, but I didn't think much about that. Whatever he was doing he intended to keep to himself so I had no intentions of trying to figure it out.

As I stepped back outside I took a deep breath enjoying the unpolluted air around me. Of course I knew that since Magnolia was such a large city the air was constantly being polluted by cars, factories, and other things, but I never really believed that you could tell the difference of the air so distinctly. The air here seemed almost magical. Filling me with energy.

The river was a few yards away from my home being separated by a large area of grass, but I quickly made my way to it and dipped down a bit to get a closer look. It was amazing. The water was as clear as it looked from a distance, I could see my reflection perfectly in the water. I smiled at the blonde haired girl looking back at me from the water, almost believing the reflection was to clear to actually only be that.

Perhaps a parallel version of me?

I couldn't help, but chuckle at my own thoughts. Sometimes my imagination really got the better of me.

Banishing my silly thoughts I lifted my eyes to assess other areas of the river. Lilly pads decorated the river in multiple areas adding to its beauty along with a small dip creating the tiniest of waterfalls as it drifted into the neighbors yard.

This couldn't be natural. Something this beautiful had to be man-made I concluded. I dipped my hand into the water scaring away a few small fish who had gathered at the sight of me. Even the animals were different here.

A few seconds later I stood up straight and looked across the river where there was a wooded area. The river was shallow enough that I could easily cross it if I wanted to, but I felt no desire to at the time. I could see the beautiful mountain peaks behind the wooded area and concluded that at the very least this backyard was far greater than her overpriced one back home that was filled with useless decorations.

I smiled as an idea popped into my head. Reaching into my pocket I brought out my cell phone and quickly snapped a photo of me so that my recipient could see the me along with the beautiful landscape in the background. I scrolled to Loke's name and sent him the photo along with my response to his earlier message. I wondered briefly if he would be jealous that he couldn't see this amazing sight in person.

Not surprised when I didn't get a quick response. I decided to head back inside and finally get some sleep before exploring everything else Fiore had to offer. I glanced at the time as I walked into my bedroom. It was 5pm. I knew that my body was tired from driving all day so I decided against setting an alarm preferring to wake up whenever my body deemed it was ready.

I stifled a yawn as I laid in my bed and quickly wrapped myself up in my thick blanket. The air condition was working a little to well. I pulled my phone up to my face to check one more time if Loke had replied, but once I saw he hadn't I quickly found myself falling asleep. Feeling a little more comfortable about the move. Fiore seemed like a beautiful place, a place I would have never expected my father to want to move too, but beautiful nonetheless.

And with that final thought I felt my energy leave my body as my eyelids grew heavier. I don't think I've ever fallen asleep faster.

I mumbled grumpily as I shifted around in my bed no longer comfortable. After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to fall back asleep I slowly forced my eyes open. I instantly noticed the lack of sunlight in the room and assessed that I had been asleep for at least a few hours. I lazily searched around on my bed for my phone that had shifted while I slept and tried not to be disappointed when I saw that Loke hadn't responded to my message yet. It was almost midnight which meant that I had been asleep for over 6 hours, that was more than enough time for him to reply especially when I had sent him a photo. I was tempted to call, but decided against it knowing that my annoyance at the situation would only start an argument that I didn't feel like having when I just woke up.

"Great now I'm going to be up all night..." I muttered to myself as I slowly made my way off my bed.

Despite my slow movements I knew I was wide awake now thanks to my nap so I decided to make my way to my desk. I turned on the lamp and sat down with a smile on my face as I opened up my diary. Writing was something that I liked to believe I inherited from my mother considering she was an author herself although she never managed to get published. It was her dream, but she died before she could achieve it and without being asked I made it my dream as well. One day the name Lucy Heartfilia would be in bookstores all over the world.

I smiled softly at my thoughts before looking down at the blank page that I had opened to in my diary. Before I had a chance to reach for my pen however I heard a creaking sound outside my window. Instantly I looked towards it curious as to what had made the sound. At first I didn't see anything as my focus was on my own yard, but when I heard the sound again I turned my head to the large tree I had noticed earlier only this time a boy was climbing it.

He definitely was no little kid like I had assumed he would be. Rather he looked my own age, at least that's what his height told me. By the time I had completed my observation he had made it to the large branch and was soon perfectly laying on the branch unafraid about the consequences he would receive if he rolled even a little. Now that the boy was higher up the moonlight gave me a perfect view of him and the very first thing I noticed was

"Pink hair..." I muttered as I stared unashamed at the unknown teenager. I prayed he didn't notice me looking at him through my window as I wasn't sure how I would defend myself.

I could tell that his eyes were closed, but without warning one of his arms fell and he allowed it to dangle off the side of the branch while the other arm fell to cover his eyes. His chest rose up and down unevenly, but due to the lack of light I honestly wasn't sure.

A few minutes passed and I felt a little nervous realizing I had been watching the boy the entire time trying to figure out what he was doing. I had come to the conclusion that he wasn't sleep since he slightly moved every few seconds, I supposed the hard bark of the tree branch was just as uncomfortable as it looked.

Maybe he was thinking about something? I remembered all of the times I laid on my bed deep in thought about many different things plaguing my mind. I couldn't help, but wonder what he was thinking about.

I purged the thought. I didn't even know this boy yet here I am wanting to know his thoughts. How creepy is that. I smiled softly to myself as I turned my attention back to his hair.

"Who dyes their hair pink anyways?" I wondered out loud assuming that pink was almost certainly not his natural hair color. I had never heard of anyone's natural hair color being pink, is what I used to base my assumption. My eyes drifted a little lower to the scarf he had wrapped around his neck. It was shining with the moonlight reflecting softly on it's white material. I had never seen a design like that before...It looked almost like scales? It definitely seemed like it fit the pink haired boy though.

I was just about to turn back to my diary, finally coming to my senses about staring at a stranger for so long.

Suddenly however the boy sat up startling me with his sudden movements. I jumped despite knowing that the boy had no idea I was watching, but that thought left my head soon after it came as his eyes turned towards my window.

I froze. His features showed that he was surprised to find somebody watching him and I didn't let a his subtle movement of his hand to quickly brush under his eyes escape my vision.

Had he been crying? Now I felt even worse about being so rude.

The boy hadn't made a move and I almost allowed a small sliver of hope to creep into me that maybe he hadn't truly saw me, but suddenly the boy's features softened and he gave me the largest smile I had ever seen. Completely contradicting the earlier emotion I had witnessed. I knew I was blushing and my heart had sped up at the sudden situation.

Of course once I forced myself to calm down, the first thought that entered my mind was to move away from the window. The boy was more than likely my neighbor and if anything I could think about the situation rationally and find a way to apologize the next time I saw him. Hopefully in a much less awkward situation.

But before I could move away from the window I noticed him motion with his hands to open the window. My blush returned, why did he want me to open my window?

Great... Maybe I could still get away with moving away from the window and act like I hadn't saw his gestures, but his animated expression as he continued to make motions with his hands told me that he definitely was aware that I had seen his movements.

Finally I caved, I thought maybe I should be scared after all this was a stranger, but I wasn't. More than anything I felt a swell of curiosity bud up inside of me. Something about this pink haired boy...

I expelled the thoughts repeating to myself that situation was just so unexpected which is why I was so curious. I had a boyfriend and I didn't even know this guy.

He just seemed interesting... And the childish curiosity I had always had since I was a child budded up inside of me.

Not romantic at all.

I unlocked my window and opened it up as the still smiling teen had gestured and instantly he spoke.

"Finally! I was beginning to think you'd never get it!" He laughed, his voice loud and uncaring about the fact that it was the middle of the night and people were sleeping.

I was almost starting to wonder if maybe I had imaging him wiping away tears.

"Well excuse me for being a bit wary of opening my window when a stranger tells me too." I replied not allowing his enigma like emotions to distract me from his words. Plus I was a bit amused by the familiarity in the boy's tone, though I didn't let that show on my face.

He gave the same face breaking smile he had given me when he first noticed I was watching him.

"Oh so you're wary of strangers telling you to open your window, but you have no problem stalking them from it." He laughed his smile turning into a playful smirk as he shifted so he was now sitting on the branch rather than laying, his legs dangling in the air off the branch.

Exposed. How did he even notice me? I held back a groan. How embarrassing.

I found myself stuttering a response and from the smirk on his face I could tell he was enjoying teasing me.

"I-I wasn't stalking you! I was just wondering who was laying down in a tree instead of inside their own home!" I replied my voice coming out a lot louder than I had meant. I instantly put a hand over my mouth and looked towards my door hoping that my father hadn't heard me.

He laughed. I could already tell this boy was going to frustrate me.

"So who are you?" He asked, not allowing the subject as to why he had been laying down on the tree to stick.

I sighed. "Shouldn't you be the one to tell me who you are considering you're the one who told me to open my window." I said calming myself down a bit, not wanting the boy to have anymore fun teasing me.

"I'm Natsu," He started before his smile made another appearance, "Natsu Dragneel." He repeated as he pointed to himself as if I didn't know who he was referring to.

"Lucy Heartfilia." I responded deciding that I had come this far there was no need to be rude.

His face twisted in a manner that warned me to expect something irritating. Maybe I was going to have to be rude...

The mischievousness dancing in his eyes only confirmed my thoughts.

"What a weird name." He said unashamed.

At least he reached my expectations...

"Me?! What kind of name is Natsu!?" I asked unable to hide my irritation at the teen. And as soon as I said it I regretted it as his face lit up in a laugh again.

He was playing with me. This asshole and I had walked right into his trap.

"A much better name than Lucy!" He retorted his smile never leaving his face.

I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself, I was not going to let Natsu or whatever get under my skin so easily. "Whatever." I muttered.

"It means summer." He explained without being asked his smile not dimming despite my unenthused response.

"That is good for you Natsu." I replied wondering to myself why I hadn't yet closed the window.

Finally it seemed like my replies were getting to him as his smile dropped a little, but it was only for a second before he began speaking again.

"So you just moved in huh? Where are you from?" He asked clearly having no intentions of leaving anytime soon.

"Magnolia." I said easily.

His face scrunched up. "Oh so your from the city?" He asked although I wasn't sure if I was imaging the bit of emotion in his voice.

Curiosity? Maybe I wasn't sure.

"Is there something wrong with being from the city?" I found myself teasing, wanting to pay him back for earlier. My teasing seemed to have the desired effect as well since he immediately began to backtrack.

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and his hand grabbed at the scarf around his neck. I don't even think he realized he was doing it. Maybe a habit. He probably wore that scarf a lot.

"No No nothing like that, I was just surprised. Not many people move here from a city as large as Magnolia." He explained.

Well that made sense. Fiore did seem like a pretty remote location.

I leaned forward as I got myself a little more comfortable. For some reason I had a feeling Natsu had no plans on ending this conversation anytime soon. Not that I really cared. I would be lying if I said I didn't find the boy interesting.

He was like everything else in Fiore. Different.

I must have talked to Natsu for another hour before he finally let out a yawn and said he was going to go to bed. I couldn't help, but feel a little disappointed when he said it too. I couldn't deny that he was definitely entertaining. He asked me a lot of questions about Magnolia since he himself had apparently never left Fiore. Of course I eagerly described my hometown wanting Natsu to feel a little envious that I had gotten the chance to live in the city while he had been stuck in the country his whole life. But that wasn't the case. Rather it was Natsu who made me feel like I was the one missing out.

After I told him about different places in Magnolia he told me about some of the things Fiore had to offer and I had to admit it sounded really interesting. Although I was sure he was exaggerating, there was no way you could have that much fun in such a small little town. But he definitely rose my expectations.

"Are you busy tomorrow?" He asked as he began his decent down the tall tree.

I was tempted to say yes just to be spiteful, but I didn't. "Not really, seeing a bit of the town is really all I had in mind." I admitted truthfully, still amazed by how easy it was to talk to Natsu.

I'd never been able to make friends easily, evidence to this fact was that I was only close to Loke and a few of the maids back in Magnolia.

He was just so friendly. Even if he was a bit childish.

"Well say hello to your personal tour guide! I'll make sure you love Fiore by the time tomorrow is over!" He practically shouted as he made it to the ground and looked back up towards me.

"W-wait who said I wanted you to be my tour guide?!" I asked my tone going up an octave in surprise.

He didn't let me argue however as he began running back towards his house. "Don't worry I promise we'll have fun! Goodnight Luce!" He yelled before making it to his door and closing it before I could respond.

I stood at my window for a few seconds after he had disappeared. Had that really happened? But then something else hit me.

"What the hell is up with Luce!?" I shouted. "My name is Lucy you idiot!" I shouted again briefly forgetting again that I was being extremely loud so late at night.

I grumbled to myself before I turned my attention back to my desk. Suddenly a realization hit me. I don't know why but I suddenly felt enormously guilty that while I was talking to Natsu I hadn't put much thought into how Loke would feel about the situation at all.

He certainly wouldn't enjoy hearing that his girlfriend was having late night conversations with her teenage neighbor at one in the morning. I groaned I knew it was innocent and Natsu had said nothing to imply that he was flirting with me or anything, but still...

 _"Goodnight Luce!"_

His last words came to my head and I couldn't help, but blush. Now that I thought about it he definitely didn't mess up my name on accident. He called me that on purpose. He had known me for little over an hour and he already given me a nickname.

"I'm definitely going to have to talk to him about that." I muttered to myself knowing how intimate the nickname had sounded.

I turned my attention back to my diary. I had no idea what I had planned to write about earlier when I had first woken up, but now I knew for sure that whatever I did write my meeting with Natsu had to be included in it.

He was an enigma.

* * *

 **The Next Day**

 _-pang-_

 _-pang-_

I groaned. What the hell was that sound? I wondered while I threw a pillow over my head. I had no idea what time it was, i couldn't even remember what time I had finally went to bed, but the way my body felt I just knew that it was way to early to be awake.

 _-pang-_

 _-pang-_

I slowly turned my head towards my window and eyed it suspiciously from the comfort of my bed. The sounds seemed to be originating from it. I was proven right only seconds later as I witnessed another small pebble hit my window.

 _-pang-_

A rock being thrown at my window...After last night I was certain there was only one person in Fiore annoying enough to do that at...

I grabbed my phone off the nightstand next to my bed and looked at the time. 8 am. Yeah, Natsu was definitely about to get a piece of my mind.

Granted Natsu was the only person that I knew, but for some reason I felt like he was a rarity even here.

I grumpily made my way to my window only to see another small pebble hit it the moment I got near. It took nearly all of my strength not to slam open the window and yell.

I wasn't even surprised to see that I was right. There he was sitting in that same tree smiling that same dumb smile. I was about to ask just what the hell he was doing, but before I could another rock hit the window.

I instantly felt even more irritation build up in me and from the look on his face I could tell he was enjoying every second of it.

"Nat-" I started only for another pebble to hit the top of my window interrupting me.

Now he was roaring in laughter. How the hell did he have so much energy so early in the morning. And why was he spending it bothering me?! The latter was definitely the more important question.

"Come on Luce, wake up. We have a long day ahead of us." He said cheerily clearly not bothered by the heat of my gaze.

I took a deep breath. I really didn't want to get worked up so early, but he was making it extremely difficult. "Natsu...Why the hell are you throwing rocks at my window at eight in the morning..." I said through gritted teeth showing how hard I was trying not to yell.

Natsu either didn't care however or didn't notice since he spoke unaffected. "I told you I was going to be your tour guide and as such we have to get started as soon as possible in order to really see Fiore!" He voice held so much enthusiasm that I almost dropped my anger.

Almost.

"I'm going back to bed Natsu and I swear to God. If you throw another pebble at my win-" I began only to unsurprisingly be interrupted by another rock thrown by none other than my pink haired annoyance.

"Your dead." I muttered. Before quickly shooting away from my window and headed downstairs to the backyard as fast as I could. Enough was enough since Natsu clearly wanted to see how mean I could be I would show him! Up close and personal!

I made my way towards the branch that he was sitting on still laughing and put my hands on my hips. "What is your problem?! Who raised you to think it's ok to bother somebody you just met at 8 am by throwing rocks at their window!" I shouted up towards him clearly shocking him by the harshness of my tone.

I couldn't find it in myself to feel sorry though.

Natsu's next move surprised me though as he suddenly jumped off the branch and landed gracefully in front of me. I quickly glanced at the branch and assessed how high it was, it certainly wasn't a jump i'd try to make.

For the first time I stood in front of the pink haired boy. He was taller than me by a whole head, but the first thing I noticed where that his eyebrows were pink too. Suddenly the idea that he had dyed his hair seemed less likely. It looked way to natural.

But maybe it wasn't pink at all...Now that I could see it under the sunlight...

Salmon?

I killed the thoughts moving my eyes to look at his clothing. During the exchange I could feel my anger slowly evolving into embarrassment.

What the hell.

He was wearing a pair of white shorts with an open black vest. The vest had orange stripes on it, but that wasn't what had staled my rant. Rather it was the fact that he had on absolutely no shirt under it giving me a clear view of his toned chest. I knew I was inexperienced when it came to guys, but I knew for a fact that I had never seen a body like Natsu's in person. My eyes unconsciously traveled down to his stomach and I had to swallow a bit before forcing my eyes back to his. If he caught me ogling him I was almost sure he would never let me live it down.

He moved his hand towards the back of his head and gripped at the same white scarf he had been wearing last night. The action drew my attention to a tattoo just below his right shoulder.

It was red, but I had never seen anything that resembled the mark before. Maybe it was some kind of symbol?

I swallowed a bit before forcing my eyes back to his praying that he hadn't noticed what exactly had paused my rant.

Natsu gave a small laugh. Not doing anything to suggest that he had noticed. I let out a silent breath of relief.

"Haha..My bad, I was just a little excited. I figured you would be as eager to see Fiore as I was to show you." He admitted before his face broke out into his trademark grin.

This boy was bad news I could see that clearly now. Now that it wasn't dark and my view of him wasn't obstructed by a window I could see just how handsome he was. And while I wasn't sure if he was doing it on purpose, he was definitely using that smile to try to get me to forgive him.

But even despite this knowledge I still felt myself giving in. His words were just too sweet for me to continue scolding him like I had planned. It was just my nature to be nice.

I sighed. "Well unfortunately I'm awake now..." I started before I looked down at myself I was still wearing the clothes I had went to sleep in which only consisted of a small pair of shorts that I knew didn't hide much and white tank top without a bra. I instantly felt my face heat up as I covered myself and ran back inside before Natsu could react to my realization.

I ran back to my room and went to the window. "I'm going to get dressed alright! Give me one hour Natsu and I swear if you bother me..." I decided to let Natsu fill in the blanks to my threat.

Natsu blinked a few times clearly confused before smiling "Your really weird Luce, but alright. I'll come back for you in a hour." He said with a laugh before easily climbing back over the fence into his own yard.

"And stop calling me Luce!" I found myself saying, ignoring his insult, although I wasn't sure if he had heard me.

Even if he did I was almost positive he would ignore it.

It had taken me almost the entire hour to take a shower and get dressed, but I couldn't help it. I wanted to look good while I walked around Fiore. First impressions probably meant even more here than they did in Magnolia.

My blonde hair was laid straight back so it flowed nicely down my back while I had tied a pink ribbon in my hair in order to create a side pony tail. I was dressed in a modest pair of light blue jeans with a black and yellow shirt which sleeves came to my elbows. Usually I preferred shorter, more revealing clothing since they were more comfortable, but I decided to have some kind of modesty around Natsu. If anything to clear my guilty conscious towards how Loke would feel if he knew about him.

I heard my phone ringing interrupting my thoughts. For an instant I almost believed it to be Natsu, but that was impossible. I hadn't given him my number so who was calling me so early I wondered. I picked up the phone and the same guilty feeling that had been nagging me all morning multiplied. Loke.

"Good-morning princess!" He swooned the moment I clicked accept on the phone call. It instantly brought a smile to my face.

I laughed a bit. "Good-morning asshole, I hope you have a good excuse for not talking to me yesterday." I stated instantly. I didn't feel nearly as annoyed about it as I had been the previous night.

Something that I had a feeling had to do with the fact that Natsu had managed to annoy me far more.

But that didn't mean he was off the hook.

"I'm sorry Lucy but I promise I have a bad excuse for why I didn't." Loke replied in a tone that told me he was joking. I rolled my eyes.

"You're not off to a good start you know. Admitting that its a bad excuse." I chuckled unable to really sound to mad about the situation. At least he was calling now.

He laughed a bit himself before responding. "My phone had died and my charger wouldn't work no matter what I tried, honestly I did everything I could before caving and buying a new charger this morning so I could talk to you." He explained.

I sighed. "I suppose that isn't to bad of an excuse, I know how irresponsible you are with your electronics so I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"You make me sound like a child when you say it like that." He teased, "But enough about that, whats your first impressions of Fiore?"

I used my finger to gently play in my hair briefly forgetting my agreement with Natsu. "It's actually beautiful here Loke, a lot different from the city. Did you see the photo I sent you?"

"I did, you looked absolutely dazzling." He complimented causing me to roll my eyes.

"The idea wasn't so you could see me you flirt," I responded although his words had brought a blush to my face.

I heard him laugh, "How can I focus on the background when the person in the photo grabs all of my attention." He smoothly added.

I stuttered in embarrassment at Loke's compliments. He was never shy about showering me with them, but I still couldn't get used to it. I thanked him quickly as I told him the little that I had seen in Fiore. It was a nice conversation and Loke seemed genuinely curious about my new home.

"Meet any new people?" He asked and immediately I cursed in my head.

I had completely forgotten about Natsu. I glanced at the time and saw maybe another 15 minutes had passed since I had begun talking to Loke. I turned my attention towards my window and saw that Natsu wasn't outside. I guess it wasn't impossible for him to show some patience.

"I actually did meet someone." I replied, a bit nervously. I knew I had no reason to feel guilty about my meeting with Natsu, but for some reason I did. "I actually have neighbors now can you believe it?!" I continued not wanting to alert Loke.

"Neighbors? Really? Wow you guys really did abandon the high life huh?" He said with a laugh.

Loke had never been allowed in my house for obvious reasons, but he still knew basically everything there was about how I lived. I guess that tended to happen when he was basically the only person I talked too frequently outside of my old mansion.

"Yeah...One of them is this weird guy with pink hair." I admitted although I purposely left out how we had met. My fear of Loke's reaction to the strange meeting trumping my want to be completely truthful to him.

"Pink hair?" He asked clearly surprised by that. I didn't blame him either, after all Natsu was the first person I had ever seen with that hair color as well.

I nodded despite the fact that Loke couldn't see me. "Yeah, pink. He's a little weird, but nice all the same. He offered to show me around Fiore today." I revealed, not intending to hide that much from Loke.

He was my boyfriend after all and I had no intentions of breaking his trust.

Loke was silent for a few seconds and I felt my heart speed up. Did he not like the fact that Natsu had offered to show me around Fiore? Rather did he not like the fact that I had accepted his proposal.

"Sounds like fun, I'm glad to hear that your making friends Lucy." He finally replied in a sweet tone, that made me wonder why was I even worrying about this.

I should have known that Loke trusted me as much as I trusted him, he had no reason to doubt me and Natsu's friendship. If you could even call it that, after all I did just meet him, and although he made quite the first impression I still had no idea what the future held.

"Doesn't change the fact that I miss you though." I admitted my blush lightly returning.

Before I could hear his response however I heard an annoying yell coming from outside of my window.

"Lu~cy! Come on! How much longer are you going to keep me waiting!"

I had to bite back a chuckle, I guess I had overestimated Natsu's level of patience.

"Lucy?" Loke questioned, bringing my attention back to him. I hadn't even heard his response to my statement.

I quickly brought my attention back to my boyfriend. "Sorry Loke, but I'll talk to you a little later alright? I kind of told Natsu i'd be ready by now." I informed him only to get a sigh in return.

"I've never known you to start a weekend before at least 12." He said in a tone that told me he was surprised.

I couldn't blame him for that either, Loke was right I was definitely not a morning person and I had canceled more than one of our dates in order to sleep in.

"I guess I'm just a bit excited to see Fiore." I told him, which wasn't a lie.

He sighed again, and this time I began to think maybe it would be better to just tell Natsu I could tour Fiore by myself if it was bothering Loke this much, but his next words pushed that thought from my head.

"Well Alright. I would hate to keep you from your plans, i'll just talk to you later." He finally said in a sweet tone.

I could tell he might want to say more, but decided that if he didn't voice a complaint I shouldn't overthink it. Besides if he did have doubts about my friendship with Natsu I would just have to prove it to him by staying as platonic with the pink haired teen as possible.

We said our goodbyes after that before I finally turned my attention towards my window. I instantly jumped as I turned just in time to watch Natsu leap from his tree branch and land perfectly on the frame of my window.

"N-Natsu!" I shouted as I hung up the phone unable to believe what was happening.

He flashed me a grin before speaking. "Open up the window Luce there isn't much space up here."

Instantly I felt flustered, "O-of course you idiot! What type of jungle man are you?! Jumping like that, you could have gotten hurt!" I whispered harshly.

"If your worried about me than save me." He teased as he pretended as if he lost his balance causing me to rush to open the window in fear that he might really fall.

Of course I instantly realized I had been played the moment I got the window open and his hand grabbed mine. "N-natsu!" I stuttered still in shock over the events that had taken place mere seconds after I had gotten off the phone with my boyfriend.

"So you coming or not?" He asked causing me to realize that his intentions weren't to get in my room, but rather to-

My thoughts came to a halt as I felt him pull me into his arms. I would have screamed, but my brain seemed to still be in shock. I barely had time to ready myself as he easily picked me up in a bridal position and leaped towards the ground.

I immediately wrapped my arms around his neck in fear and my head tucked into his scarf. I would have been more self conscious about the action if my life wasn't currently flashing before my eyes.

Miraculously though Natsu gently easily landed gracefully on the ground despite my extra weight. My eyes were clutched shut and I had barely registered that we had reached the ground by the time I heard his voice.

"You can open your eyes now weirdo." He laughed as I slowly did what he asked.

Instantly anger flooded my body as I pulled my body away from his grasp and stood up on my own. This guy was nuts!

"Natsu! W-Why?! Why would you pull me out my window like that!" I yelled not at all caring about the fact that my father might be able to hear me.

He gave me a bored expression. "You were taking to long." He answered simply as if his actions were completely justified.

This guy was beyond frustrating!

"That still doesn't give you the right to do that! We both could have been seriously hurt!" I continued although my voice didn't hold nearly as much anger that I felt Natsu's actions had earned.

Once again he smiled and my words got caught in my throat.

"I wouldn't let you get hurt Luce, don't worry you can trust me." He said good naturally clearly not bothered by my anger at all.

His words made a blush come to my face. My eyes went to my feet instinctively, "I just met you, why would I trust you that much?" I asked completely losing track of what I wanted to get across with this conversation.

His hands reached behind his head and he stared at me as if I had asked him a stupid question. "Why wouldn't you?" He answered my question with another question.

I sighed, this conversation was going nowhere quickly. "Whatever Natsu. Anyways since I'm out here now where are we going?"

He groaned as he began walking motioning for me to follow as we walked around to the front of my yard. "You ask so many questions Lucy, lets just enjoy the day."

He had turned away from me before speaking so I couldn't see his face. Settling for looking at his back for now I rolled my eyes. This boy was absolutely ridiculous, but for some reason I didn't want to stay mad at him. So I didn't.

"Just don't do anything like that again Natsu. I'm serious." I stated as we reached my driveway. He didn't respond, and maybe I should have pushed the issue to make it clear that I wasn't kidding, but I didn't.

And for some reason I had a feeling in my gut that I should have.

I shook the thought though as I noticed that my father's car was already gone. He must have went out early this morning, at least that explained why all of my screaming hadn't attracted his attention.

"Do you have a car?" I questioned as I looked towards his house and saw nothing. How did he expect to go anywhere without a vehicle?

He stopped moving briefly before looking at me with a face that I can only describe as one of horror. "N-nah, I figured we could just walk? Fiore isn't that large so you know."

I narrowed my eyes at him. Clearly he was hiding something, but I decided not to press him about it. I didn't mind walking since I didn't wear any heels.

Without warning Natsu suddenly grabbed my hand and began running with me in tow down the sidewalk that lead into the town.

I was already struggling to stop my heart from pounding as Natsu ignored my protests about being dragged around, although his grip became noticeably lighter after my complaints.

Soon I had given up on stopping him, allowing him to take me at his pace for now. I let myself watch the flowing river that was across the street from the sidewalk. I assumed that the river I had seen when coming into town was the same one that lead into my backyard along with the one I was seeing now. Just how far did this river go?

I didn't have time to think on it though as Natsu turned his head towards me.

"So you ready to see Fiore?" He asked with his common face breaking smile that made heat rush to my cheeks against my will.

Despite all of my protests, despite the ache in my heart that longed to still be in Magnolia, and most of all despite my eccentric neighbor...

I was excited to learn more about Fiore. I couldn't remember the last time I was genuinely this excited for something, and the realization was a little shocking.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Well I hope you enjoyed Chapter 1! I have big plans for this story and I really hope you guys enjoy it! I appreciate all my readers and would love to hear your opinions in the reviews similar to most authors on this site I read every single one and I do take constructive criticism to heart and strive to improve.**

 **For all of you Loke's fans out there don't worry this isn't a story bashing Loke or anything like that, I have no intentions of making him OOC for the sake of this story. I prefer for the characters to act as closely to their anime counterparts as possible even in a different setting. But this is a NALU story.**

 **So expect the unexpected. I'll try to stay away from cliches and common plots used in this fandom, but feel free to take guesses as to what you believe will happen further along in the story. Never know you might be right!**

 **I don't have an update schedule for this story in mind as of yet, but the more people who express interest in the story the more frequent the updates will be.**

 **So with that in mind R &R**

 **VerifiedBreeze Signing Out.**


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